The Sisterhood of the Traveling Collage

Here we see the progression of the family tree collage honoring the women of my mother's family, both past and present. My cousin Lindsey initiated a "Ladies Lunch" at which we gathered to hear stories about our female ancestors, share a delicious spread of soup and sandwiches (perfected on the George, of course), and collaborate on an artistic representation of the stories we heard, as well as our own stories. What a delightful day! Hopefully the collage will be able to travel to different homes of sisters in our family over the years. We've left room for more details to be added by those who couldn't attend, or those may become part of our family in the future. Also, there are quite a few details I still need to add to elaborate on the stories of our female ancestors pictured in the collage. I shall post the finished artwork eventually for all to see. I hope to bring the canvas to our Thanksgiving feast to solicit a bit of help in finishing up some of the details. Thanks for all who were there and helped make the Ladies Lunch such a success.

colorstrology again

I just realized that the illustration of me at the top of my blog employs, more than any other color, MY color from the colorstrology site. Notice the greenish-bluish color of my skirt, and the left side of my shirt, and the hair barrette, and the top of my glasses? That is my color!! I knew it felt good when I read and saw my color, but I hadn't realized that I'd actually used it to depict myself in the blog masthead illustration. Very telling.

An amber glow

I took all of these without a flash, which means longer exposures, less clarity, more movement. I've been trying it a lot lately and the blurred images, with their amber glow from the incandescent light bulbs, appeal to me. There's something soft, warm, sensuous about it. I feel closer to the subject, and in a kind of dream land. Enchanting & appropriate for the setting — Amber & Keith's wedding reception.

Dolly digs pretzel chips

Mavis "accidentally" brought this dolly home from her friend's house one afternoon. Soon after the dolly got lost. Later on, Granna was reaching into a bag of pretzel chips to retrieve a little snack, when to her surprise she discovered the tiny dolly holding tightly to a pretzel chip. It appears she's actually taking a nibble.

To Infinity and beyoooooond!

First, one must prepare and gain strength through a nutritious dinner of yams.

Next, the audience must be arranged.

Ascending to the summit follows, and arms are raised in preparation for flight to Infinity and BEYOOOOOOOOND!

Angelitos

Siblings Sharing the Limelight

Every time I start shooting photos of Jack a certain little girl feels compelled to join in the fun. It's hard not being the center of attention anymore when a new kid arrives on the scene.





This is the first time Jack ever pulled himself up on anything. Mavis is sort of trying to help at first. Then he makes it, albeit shakily, on his own. Lucky am I to have had the camera on hand for this momentous occasion.

Halloween Cat and a Red Gladiola

A silly little decoration I made last year. Not my best, but fun to paint nonetheless.



I planted a whole bunch of gladiolas, but only had a few blooms. This electric red gladiola was a loner (the only red one—Pantone Red 032) and I'm glad she made it. Nieces and nephews collected these acorns for me from Nama & Papi's backyard.

the cutest Jack in the whole wide world

Here Jack is seen doing some of his favorite activities including climbing the stairs, eating chairs, sticking out his tongue, and generally being darling.

Cupcakes with the neighbor girls

I made these cupcakes for the neighborhood girls to decorate. My neighbor across the street made the frosting and directed the decorating. We had fun. These are the best chocolate cupcakes! I started with a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Chocolate Devil's Food Cake, but swapped the all-purpose flour for whole grain kamut flour resulting in a whole grain product that maintains the light fluffy texture associated with white flour cakes. Kamut is great because it doesn't give baked goods the dense, heaviness of whole wheat. Also, the flavor of kamut is more delicate, so it doesn't detract from the other flavors in the cake the way whole wheat would, but you don't have to sacrifice any of the nutritious goodness attributed only to a whole grain. Kamut can also be used in pancakes with wonderful success. In fact we like the kamut pancakes better than the original white wheat flour version.

Strawberry Leotard

Mavis loves "gynastics". She loves wearing leotards too. This one is shiny and has pink strawberries on it—a metallic version of pms 226. Super cute!

Keith Marries Amber

Stephanie took a pic of me with my kiddie widdies while we were walking in the gardens between the Lion House and the Salt Lake Temple. This is after attending my cousin Keith's wedding to the lovely Amber. I did their wedding invites, which I will post later when I post all of my recent wedding invites. Here are a few pics other pics I took that day.